To Keep Little Brother Safe
by Gwntan12
Summary: "I won't let them hurt you," Edward promised, eyes hard. "You're my little brother, and I will keep you safe." And when he promised it, Edward Elric truly meant it, even if it meant enrolling in school, handling hormonal teen girls, all to avoid the grasp of an organaization who will stop at nothing to get their hands on Edward, even if it means hurting Alphonse. School AU
1. Prologue

"Brother, are you sure about this?" Alphonse Elric inquired nervously. Alphonse was a young boy of about fourteen years old, with brilliant short golden hair and eyes, with a smile to match. He was a kind soul who always tried to see the best of others. You could say that he was the far more optimistic of the two.

"Yeah, Al. I'm sure. They won't find us that easily here. It's easier to hide in a crowd, after all." Edward Elric assured his little brother, though he wasn't sounding entirely convinced himself. After all, _they_ had found, and nearly caught them the last time they thought they were safe. Edward was just a year older then Alphonse, so he was fifteen. He shared the same bright golden hair and eyes with his little brother, however, his face seemed to be set in a permament scowl most if the time, and his hair had been grown out, and tied back into a braid. And woe to the idividual who called him a girl. He was blunt and cynical with a short complex, and was easily the more pessimistic of the siblings, a contrast to his younger brother's personality.

After all, someone who had seen the horrors and harsh truths of the world will end seeing the world in a different light, rather then someone who had protected and sheltered from the truths, as Edward had tried to do for Alphonse, but who knows how long Ed was going to be able to keep it like that?

The building that stood tall and proud before them seemed slightly imposing, and perhaps a little irritating.

Amestrian Middle School 310.

Three months ago, if someone had suggested that Ed and Al were going back to school, the former would have scoffed, and probably asked what shit they had smoking. Who did they think they were? Idiots who needed schooling? Bah! They were child geniuses for heaven's sake!

But then again, Ed would endure school all over again if the situation called for it, like it did now.

After all, he couldn't let himself get caught, just to leave Al alone. He couldn't. He had to keep his little brother safe. That's what older siblings were for.

Ed frowned darkly, deep in thought about the reasons that caused him and Al to keep on moving from state to state, country to country, using different identies from time to time. The only bright side Ed could think up of was that they were able to learn many languages, and had a good grasp of most of the languages. Amestrain, Xingese, Cretan, English, Drachman, German, Russian, French, and many others. They were useful if they had go into a foreign country, and had no time to learn.

But Ed really didn't know what had possessed him to come back to , the very place where this mess started. Then again, it had been four years since they last set foot in Amestrain grounds, and it was highly unlikely that their pursuers would think they had come back here.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Ed made his way to the door of the school building with Alphonse following closely behind.

He sighed. 'Alright, let's get this over and done with.'

LINE BREAK

The office had a rather nice clean and neat feeling to it, with everything in place. Or rather, that was how Alphonse thought it felt. To Edward, the neatness felt like it was just a show of how uptight these people were, which annoyed him greatly.

The lady at the reception only seemed to further enforce Edward's impression of the place, with a stoic look on her face and a air around her that clearly stated she meant business. She had long blonde hair that was clipped back neatly, leaving a lock of hair falling across her forehead, slightly covering one of her chocolate brown eyes.

"Excuse me ma'am ," Alphonse began politely to the lady. He and Ed had come to an agreement that Al would do the talking, since he was far more polite then his brother. Ed always had the knack for getting themselves into trouble with his rudeness. "I'm Alphonse Heiderich and this is my brother Edward Heiderich. We just transferred here." Alphonse smiled brightly.

The lady's mouth twitched up slightly as she nodded her head. "Yes, I was informed that the school would be getting new students. And please, call me Ms Hawkeye."

Edward glanced around the room, scowling slightly. He hadn't been here fir more then five minutes and already, he wanted out. Who's bright idea was it in the first place to come here, anyway?

Edward paused in his thoughts, before having the decency to be embarrassed. Oh, right. It was his great idea.

Just then, Alphonse and Ms Hawkeye were just settling the remaining paperwork before he and Al were officially enrolled into AMS 310, before Hawkeye handed them their timetables.

"Mr Heiderich?" Edward looked up. "You will be placed in class 2-1. Your younger brother will be in class 1-1."

Edward absentmindedly nodded his head, giving a grunt of adknowledgement as his eyes scanned through the timetable he was given, displeased to find that there was only an hour worth of sciences for his classes, before he mumbled a thanks, pulling his brother out of the office with him.

Oh, what had he gotten himself into?

[A/N Yep, it's one of those AU stories I've been hooked onto lately. Pity most of the good ones have been discontinued or placed in hiatus. Oh well. Anyway, please tell me if you want me to continue this. And review please! I love reviews! Heck, I practically thrive on them. So yeah, please.

And now, for some shameless advertising! Please check out my FMA and Naruto crossover if you love those two franchises and you haven't already. It's called, 'Just a Nameless person'.

So yeah anyway, enjoy your Monday. Ugh, I hate Mondays.]


	2. An Old Friend

The hallways of AMS 310 were long and brightly lit, trophy cases and framed certificates occasionally decorated the walls, proving the school's prestigious standing in academic and physical _achievements._ Edward snorted quietly to himself. Trophies and certificates meant nothing in the real world. Out there, it was simply just a case of kill, or be killed, and trophies and certificates weren't going to help you one bit, considering how you can't just stand around waving such things, shouting that you're the best.

It was that sort of idiocy that got people killed, both figuratively and literally.

Fortunately for Edward and Alphonse, none of them had made any such mistake.

On second thoughts, Ed corrected himself. He had already done that. Al hadn't, but he had. Why else would he and Al have been on the run for four years?

After locating Alphonse's classroom, he quickly dropped his little brother off, before giving him a quick hug and walked off, waving. And then came problem of locating his own classroom in that maze of a school.

Was it him, or did it seem that he has absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever when it came to navigating his way in a building? Apparently so. And ironically, while he had been gallivanting around all those countries -places where he should be getting lost- he somehow is able to find is way around perfectly.

Edward was so caught up in his own thoughts, that he didn't even notice the figure approaching quickly from the opposite direction.

It had all happened so fast, so Ed hadn't the chance to move out of the way, which naturally resulted in the inevitable crash, eliciting yelps if shock from the two of them as they fell backwards

"OW!" Huh, apparently the person Ed had ran into was a girl. "Watch where you're going...!" Both of them trailed off, taking in the features of the person they had bumped into. Ed's eyes widened to almost impossible proportions. That long blonde hair, and those crystal blue eyes that seemed to sparkle with excitement and energy. Suddenly, he was five again, arguing that Chemistry was better then Mechanics with a pretty blonde girl of the same age.

"Winry?"

"Ed?"

 _I t_ _hought I'd never see her again!_

There was moment of silence as they took in the new information, before an all too familiar wrench clobbered his skull three seconds later, completely destroying any mood that had been there previously.

"Ed, you idiot!" Winry exclaimed, tears glistening at the corner of her eyes, threatening to spill as she held up a rather threatening wrench. Well, she hadn't changed much, seeing as how he was on the floor, clutching his head in agony from the blow he had recieved.

"Damn it, Winry!" Edward moaned as he sat up. Well, he was going to have one hell of a headache tomorrow, well, he would unless Winry decided to murder him with the wrench. "I see you after four years, and the first thing you do, is give me migraine with your wrench!"

"That's because you deserve it, Chemistry freak! All you did was leave a note, and then disappear with Al! Don't you know how worried I was?! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, YOU IDIOT?!" Winry barked, brandishing her wrench as Ed cowered at her volume. Speaking of Winry's wrench, why was she carrying it around in the first place?

"Uh... Sightseeing?" Ed offered lamely, almost meekly, his response sounding more of a question then an answer, before he mentally smacked himself at how lame his response had sounded. In his defense, his head's most recent encounter with Winry's damn wrench had killed off a few brain cells and was still trying to regain it's bearings. Plus, it was either that, or telling Winry the truth, which was not happening anytime soon, since he couldnt just go up to her and say, _"Hey, Winry! The reason why me and Al just upped and left was because of something stupid I did, which resulted in me trying to hide from some crackpot organization!"_

Right, because that would turn out so well. Edward mentally scoffed at the idea, taking in it's sheer stupidity. Beside, as the phrase says, ignorance is bliss, and quite frankly, Edward wholeheartedly agreed.

Winry lowered her wrench slowly, but no before shooting a look at the offending person that clearly meant, _"You're hiding something, and I will find out, even if I have to beat it out of you!_

Ed barely managed to suppress the shudder that shook through him. Huh, funny that despite having met numerous psychopaths of all kinds during his last four years of travel, Winry was one of the scariest people on his list. But she wasn't the scariest. That position belonged to... Teacher!

This time, Ed couldn't suppress the shudder that rocked through him.

"I missed you, Chemistry freak!" Winry laughed, tears falling from her sky blue eyes, pulling Ed in a embrace.

Ed paused for a moment, the tip of his ears reddening, before he grinned awkwardly. "I guess I missed you too, Gearhead."

Winry released Ed from her embrace, before wiped her tears of happiness away and plastered a cheery smile on her face.

"So, where are you headed to? I mean, if you're here, it must mean that you're attending classes here, right?" Winry asked cheerfully, as Ed gaped at her sudden mood change. Honestly, he didn't understand girls at all. What's with their mood changes?

"Well, I'm supposed to be at class 2-1." Ed paused, before adding a side note. "Uh, you wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?" He flushed red, embarrassed at having to ask for help.

Winry giggled. "You haven't changed at all, have you? Oh well, I'm headed there too so follow me!"

Her fingers latched around Ed's own, and she began pulling him along, ignoring the yelp of surprise from said person from the sudden physical contact.

Halfway there, Ed broke the silence with a question that he had pondering on. "Say, Winry? Didn't you live in Resembool? I mean, Central is at least a hundred miles away from Resembool, so why are you attending school here?"

Winry paused. "Well," She began, drawing out the 'l'. "Central had much more opportunities for me to pursue a degree in mechanics then back in Resembool, so Granny Pinako let me come to school here on the condition that I come and visit her sometimes. How about you, Ed?"

That question for a loop for a second, because really. Why had he come here? He stumbled over his words slightly as his mind was working at ludicrous speed to come up with an answer.

"Uh... Um... Because of the library? I heard they had some interesting books on Chemsistry." Once agin, Ed really wanted to slap himself for such a stupid explanation.

Luckily for him, however, Winry seemed to accept his answer, but not before muttering under her breath, "Chemistry geek."

"Hey!" Ed retorted. "That's rich coming from someone who travelled such a long distance just to attend school, Gearhead!"

"Chemistry freak!"

"Mechanic nut!"

"Shorty!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SUB-ATOMIC SHRIMP?! I'M AS TALL AS YOU!" (That's not true. He's a full six centimeters shorter then Winry.)

"NO, YOU AREN'T! I'M STILL TALLER THEN YOU!"

"Not fighting, are we?"

The new arrival's voice jerked the two squabbling teens out if their argument, looking around for the source guiltily.

The source of the voice came from a tall man of about twenty nine or so. He had sharp onyx eyes with hai of the same color, some of which hung over his eyes. He had an air of superiority and cockiness around him, which caused Ed to instantly dislike him.

"Not at all, Mr Mustang!" Winry blushed beet red in embarrassment, ducking her head.

"I should hope so, Ms Rockbell." The now named Mustang smirked, before noticing Edward.

"Ah, you must be the new student. Edward Heiderich, I presume?"

A confused expression crossed Winry's face.

"Heiderich? It's El-" However, she was cut off by Edward hissing a soft, "Later!", an action that did not go unnoticed by Mustang, who narrowed his eyes slightly before continuing.

"Huh, you don't look like you're fifteen."

Edward went rigid, his eye twitching dangerously before he spoke, fighting to keep his voice calm when he was indeed seething with rage. This Mustang character had better no be implying what Ed thought he was! "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, aren't you a little short to be fifteen?"

The inevitable explosion was just as explosive as all others. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MOUSY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK, YOU JERK?!"

However, Mustang didn't even flinch at this as he smirked. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you two in class." Before he turned around and walked away, his words slowly sinking in.

"Wait a second... 'See you in class'?" Edward repeated, a feeling of dread growing in his stomach as he silently begged Winry to tell him that he hadn't heard what he thought ht had heard.

"Yes, Ed. Mr Mustang will be seeing us in class because we're in his class."

Well, so much for hoping.

"WHAT?! Noooo...!" Ed whined pathetically as he sulked in the corner over his misfortune, growing mushrooms, which therefore caused him to notice the incoming object that his head loathed meeting with.

WHACK!

"OW! Winry, what did you do that for?!"

"THAT, EDWARD ELRIC, WAS FOR BEING RUDE TO A TEACHER!"

LINE BREAK

Alphonse sat down at a vacant lunch table to wait for his brother, a lunch tray and book in hand. His class had been let out early due to the fact that one of his teachers called in sigk that day. The book's cover was battered and weathered, and the pages were crinkled and occasionally ripped. He had retread this one hundreds if times over, and yet he still persisted in reading it.

Why?

It was simple. It was a storybook that he and Ed had written five years ago, just one year before everything went to hell. Their peaceful lives, their childhood, their home, everything, right down the drain. That book, it was the last thing they carried that was from their past. The rest were ashes. But still, it was comforting to know that they hadn't lost everything, that there was still one more thing they had to hold on to.

The book consisted of a total of three hundred pages, and in each page, a story was written out. Everything written in, was what Ed and Al had wanted to do when they grew up. Travel the world, and see new things.

Alphonse smiled wistfully. Well, they had seen the world, alright. Just not how they had wanted to.

Turning the cover over with great care, the first page could be seen, filled with words tht had been so lovingly written all those years ago.

 _There was once two brothers who wanted to see the world..._

 **[A/N Annnnnnd... Cut! I know, that chapter was filler-ish but really, I wanted to put it in. And quite frankly, I don't think it turned out that well. Also, I don't know why I wrote that last bit. Maybe Alphonse is a little too OOC? Bah, whatever.**

 **Ah, Winry! I always like her character so I decided to put her in. Uh, I don't actually plan on doing an actual EdWin pairing as in, kissing and other stuff because I can't write it** **, but I will be putting subtle hints that you might miss if you blink. You have to squint, but it's there alright.**

 **Mustang, well actually, he was a last minute edition to this. Don't ask why I put him in this chapter because quite frankly, I have no idea what I'm doing.**

 **Lastly, reviews! I love reviews, so I thank everyone who reviewed. Personally, I like reviews better then Follows or Favourites because I'm writing stories to improve my English, but still, I love Follows and Favourites all the same because it's nice to know my works are appreciated, so thank to everyone who did!**

 **Well, signing off!**

 **~ Gwntan12]**


	3. Boring lessons and Love letters

Edward groaned quietly to himself, slouching in his seat. And here he was, looking forward to a science lesson. Really, he should have expected the lesson standards to be Elementary level. Because really, it should common knowledge that the chemical formula of Pyrite is FeS2 **[A/N** **Can't write it properly here.]** , that most of the chemical symbols in the Perodic Table are derived from the Latin versions of the Elements, and how refraction of light works.

Really, those were too simple. Basic stuff, that's what was being taught. Edward tried his best to resist the powerful urge to just crack open his bastard of a father's notes, because even though he hated the man, he had to admit that Hohenheim's notes were actually reliable and good.

But, it was his fault that Edward and Alphonse were in this whole situation in the first place. Damn that man, and his stupid-!

"Mr Heiderich!"

Edward's mental curses were abruptly cut off by Mustang calling him by his fake name, and he looked up, slightly startled.

"If you are so bored, why don't you solve the question?" Mustang smirked, tapping on the black board where a science equation was written out.

A collective murmur of sympathy rose up for the new student. They all knew that whoever failed to pay attention in class, and answered a question wrong, were doomed to spend the afternoon helping their lazy excuse of a teacher grade assignments. Anyone who had gone through that had vowed never to daydream in class ever again, just so that they could avoid that torture. There was even a rumor that someone ended up in therapy after one such session.

However, no one could have expected this.

Edward blinked, giving himself a moment to read the equation, before pushing himself off his seat and moving to the front of the blackboard and taking the chalk from Mustang, before he quickly scrawled out the answer in record time.

Mustang's eyes widened slightly, before returning to normal. "Alright, you may sit down. Don't daydream in my class again."

The whispers started up again, only this time, those whispers held respect or admiration for the small blonde who had successfully showed up their teacher. The only problem was that half of these whispers belonged to certain category of females.

Meanwhile, Mustang's brain was working at amazing speeds that would make a Ferrari's top speed seem dull in comparison.

The reason? Quite simple, really.

Mustang had given Edward the hardest university standard question he could come up with, but the blonde had solved it in no time at all, barely reacting to it, as if Mustang had only given an elementary standard question. Any normal fifteen year old student would have taken just one glance at the question, before proclaiming that a few brain cells had died.

Mustang had only known two people capable of such a feat in record time before this.

But it was funny how the two people were father and son.

The father, however, had left years ago and hadn't been heard from since. His son disappeared with his brother four years ago, and like his father, he hasn't been seen since.

The father was a well renowned chemist in his field, and the last time Mustang had heard from him, he was in the middle of some sort top secret research. And Mustang would know, since he himself was a former chemist who aided him in the first stage of research, before he left and took up a teaching position. But they had already became close friends despite the age difference and they kept in touch, until ten years ago.

Mustang always did wonder, where had Hohenheim and his sons, his godsons, had gone?

LINE BREAK

Edward stomped out of the classroom, his brains crying in agony at being fed such novice information. He was itching to actually use his brain for something actually worth his time, but unforetunately for him, it had appeared that he wasn't going to do anything remotely brain twisting by his standards anytime soon, as long as he stayed in school.

See? This one reason why he and Alphonse had dropped out when they were six. School taught things far too slowly, and the only thing it did was hold them back from what he really should be doing.

Edward sighed, massaging his temples. He probably wouldn't be able to hold a scientific conversation with anyone but Alphonse, considering how dumb everyone was, as seen during that one hour of science class. Really, Ed could see some students' eyes glazing over, some making airplanes, and some -meaning some females- were simply whispering and giggling, sending him glances.

Edward's first thought to that, was to stay far away from that particular group of females. They seemed as if they wanted to tear at Ed, and quite frankly, Edward liked his body intact, thank you very much.

Edward dragged his feet all the way to his locker to retrieve the second book of Hohemheim's research notes, Winry following closely behind, feeling utterly miserable. Why, oh why had he chosen to come here, of all places? Anywhere without those crazed females would be better.

Once he reached his locker, he reached out to unlock it, before grasping the handle and pulled, surprised to find the door jammed shut.

"What the-?!" Edward grunted as he planted his foot firmly on the side of his locker's door and tugged harder, but to no avail. Honestly, this couldn't get any worse, could it?

Normally, something like this would be a piece of cake to open, but since Ed came here to keep a low cover, he couldn't actually bust open the door via Elric style. Nope, too much attention.

"Ed?" Winry asked, trying to stop the smile that was creeping up her face. "Do you need any help?"

"No," Edward tugged harder. "I don- WAAAAUGH!"

With one final tug, the door burst open, practically flooding the front part of the hallway with colorful bits of paper, and almost drowned Ed in them. Literally.

"What the hell?!" Edward gasped as soon as he had unburied himself, picking out one small piece that had landed in his hair. "Who flooded my locker with freaking confetti?!"

By this point, most of the students in the hallway were staring. But, as always, Ed was oblivious to the jealous looks some of the male students were shooting him.

"Ed," Winry wheezed out, her laughing fit nowhere near ending anytime soon. "That isn't confetti."

"Wha?" Edward looked down at the piece of paper he held, to find that not only was it in the shape of a heart, it had some words written in cursive on it.

"Radiant as the sun, absolutely perfect- What the hell is this?!" Edward's eye twitched dangerously as he pulled yet another colorful paper out of his hair. "Is someone pranking me?!"

Winry, was by then on the floor, literally dying of laughter, and Edward wondered how she hadn't suffocated from not breathing.

No one did bother to explain to Edward what that was all about, though.

LINE BREAK

"Hey, bro- What happened to you?" Alphonse asked, taking in his brother disheveled appearance.

"Someone flooded my locker with so much freaking confetti!" Edward complained as he took a bite out of his ham sandwich, which had no cheese because of obvious reasons. Winry had been pulled away by her friends to help them out with a project, or something before they had reached the cafeteria, which was why Ed was on his own. "It took me forever to get that out of the way."

"I can see that," Alphonse remarked dryly, only noticing the colorful piece of paper that sat comfortably on Ed's shoulder.

"WHAT?! There's still more?!" Edward growled as he pulled it off and scrunched it up into a ball, ready to fling it over his shoulder, before Al stopped him by saying, "Let me see that, brother."

Edward grunted in acknowledgement, handing Alphonse the crumpled piece of paper which was then smoothened out on the table top.

Alphonse hadn't even made it past the first sentence, before he burst out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. "Al! Not you too!" Edward complained. Really, what was so funny about that damn scrap of colorful paper? And why were they all shaped as hearts?!

"Brother," Alphonse managed between giggles. "These are love letters."

"WHAT?!" Edward spluttered and choked on his sandwich, thumping his chest to allow himself to breathe in precious air.

"Brother, you just gained a fan base. Honestly, brother. What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Edward protested, raising up his hands in defense. "Why do you think I would did something? Name one incident where I did something to attract attention unintentionally!"

"Germany, 1911. Xing, 1911. Drachma, 1912, and so many more I can't count on my fingers. Oh, and one that incident in Creta, 1913, where you-"

"Al, we said that we would never speak of that ever incident again!"

"Alright, brother." Alphonse smiled innocently.

Edward stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his mouth, brushing the crumbs off him. Checking his schedule, Ed groaned.

"Ugh, I've got History next."

"Brother, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Sure there is! Who the hell wants to listen to some old eccentric geezer ramble on and on about how some guy failed in soap manufacturing, which ended up in some bloody riot?" Edward ranted, waving his hands slightly for emphasis.

"Brother, I told you before. The Soapman incident was not caused by the failure of soap manufacturers." Alphonse sighed at his older brother's antics. His brother was good person, but he acted like a five year old at times. For a guy who didn't like being called little, he sure did act like a little kid.

LINE BREAK

Edward dragged his feet to his next class, sighing repeatedly. He vaguely recalled from somewhere that sighing would give people grey hairs, but quite frankly, he didn't care, and the with amount of stress he was constantly under, he wasn't going to get any grey hairs just by sighing.

He arrived at his class about three minutes early, which was already nearly full, and the only empty seat was right next to a -was that girl or boy?! Edward couldn't actually tell- person with dark greenish colored hair that stuck out in a fashion that reminded Ed of a palm tree.

Whoever he/she was, that person, whatever gender he/she had, was awfully familiar and quite frankly, Ed didn't think that it was a good thing.

Ed dumped his bag on the floor next to his desk, and slid onto the seat, surprising the other person who immediately looked up to see who sat next to him.

"All the other seats are taken." Ed grumbled as he pulled out his notes for reading, missing the way the the other's purple eyes widened slightly, before narrowing.

The lesson was as boring as Ed had feared. But mainly because the teacher, Mr Falman -Who wasn't an old eccentric geezer-, was teaching them about events that happened recently in the past five or so years. And Ed would know because he was there, and witnessed the whole damn civil war in Liore, where he and Alphose were hiding out just before they came to Central.

Huh, now that he thought about it, wasn't Winry's friend, Rose, from Liore? Ed couldn't remember, but that was what he heard Winry say.

Edward sighed quietly, for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. He truly wished that he could have helped out with stopping the riots in Liore, but two reasons prevented him from doing so. One, what can he do? He didn't have the ability to do anything. Ok, maybe he did, but that brought him to reason two. He could help using his clapping, risk having his location found out, therefore risking Alphonse, which he wasn't going to do in a million years.

Not then, not now and not ever.

LINE BREAK

"I'm exhausted." Ed complained to his younger brother as they trudged back to their small rented apartment. "That was easily one of the worst days of my life. And that was only the first day."

School had been a killer for Ed. Not because it was hard, but because it was too damn easy, as Ed had put it. If he wasn't so sure, he would have thought that his brain cells had died from the simplicity.

Honestly, and students call what they learn hard?! That's just sad.

"So, how was your day, brother?" Alphonse asked curiously, wanting to know what happened.

"It was terrible!" Edward groaned, running his fingers through his hair. "The lessons were too damn easy, my science teacher seemed like an arrogant prick with a ten foot pole shoved up his ass, my locker was flooded with love letters, as I told you, history was boring as hell, AND THE GIRLS WON'T STOP GIGGLING! Oh, and I saw Winry."

Alphonse laughed awkwardly. "Bad day?"

"You don't know the half of it."

Just then, the last part of Edward's rant registered in Al's head. "Wait, Winry?" Alphonse brightened up considerably at this. "How is she? We haven't seen her for four years!"

"She's still a Mechanic freak. She whacked me over the head with her damn wrench too!" Edward's head began to throb from the reunion he had with Winry's wrench. Ouch... That was his first indication that Winry hadn't changed one bit since his last meeting with her.

"Say, brother?"

Edward turned his head to his brother, his pace never changing. "Yeah?"

"Do you think we would ever be able to live a normal life, like Winry?"

Edward stopped cold in his tracks, his eyes tilted downwards, unimaginable emotional pain shining in his eyes. "I don't know, Al." Edward shook his head. "I don't know."

 _One day, the older brother made a discovery, and on that day, everything changed._

 **[A/N Ok, so I'm done with this chapter. And like my other story, I won't be able to update this for about two weeks, tops. Because damn it, exams! And my results are bad enough as they are. And I'm so sad I didn't get any reviews on the last chapter. Waaaah... Ahem, ignore that.**

 **So, basically, I wouldn't call this a filler, but then again, I don't know what counts as a filler. And how do you like that interesting fact about Mustang I made?! Cool, huh? No? Anybody? Damn it.**

 **So, yeah, no prizes for who Ed sat next to in History. It's pretty obvious that whenever an author describes someone as a palm tree in a FMA fanfiction, it's definitely Envy.**

 **So, thanks for reading and please review! I'm still sad no bothered to do that for the previous chapter.**

 **~Gwntan12]**


	4. Physical Education with Armstrong

Edward stretched in his seat as the bell went off, signaling the end of yet another mind numbing lesson, groaning. Next time, he really ought to remember to just read one of Hohenheim's -that bastard!- notes. Any one of the seven volumes, even if it was the most ridiculously boring one, because even that was far more interesting than listening to Mustang drone on and on about chemical bonding, and all that other stuff he learnt during his preschool days.

"I can't believe it." Ed complained to Winry as soon as the lesson was over. "Why are we learning something so freaking simple?"

"Don't be silly, Ed," Winry said as she gathered up her notes. "Not all of us are geniuses like you, you know."

"Ah HA!" Ed exclaimed, pointing a finger straight at Winry triumphly. "You DO admit that I'm a genius!"

Winry rolled her eyes at Ed's childish behavior as she batted his hand away. "But maturity, on the other hand..." Winry trailed off, but the meaning was clearly there.

"HEY! WINRY, TAKE THAT BACK, YOU GEARHEAD!"

"CHEMISTRY FREAK!"

"MACHINERY NUT!"

Whack!

"OW!"

LINE BREAK

"Jeez, brother. What did you do this time? Looks like Winry really did a number on you." Alphonse casually remarked as he collected his books from his locker, eyeing the rather large lump on his brother's temple. Actually, he really wasn't sure whether he wanted to know about how his brother nearly got Winry to brutally murder him.

"Nothing, Al." Ed's eye twitched dangerously at the reminder of his most recent encounter with a titanium wrench. Why'd Winry carry that around, anyway? Wasn't that just dead weight? Then again, Ed never did understand women...

"So, anyway," Alphonse began, "What do you have next?"

"Huh?" Ed flipped his schedule over, only to pale drastically at the next class he was supposed to have. "Oh, crap..."

"Brother?" Al asked nervously. If something could scare Ed that badly, it was probably something really, really bad. Probably as bad as 'someone called Ed short' kind of bad.

Ed didn't reply. He simply flipped his schedule over to Al's side, pointing to a particular class.

"Physical Education?" Alphonse read, before looking back at his brother with a raised eyebrow and a deadpanned expression, as if saying, _really?_ "Brother, you _like_ excersing, we even spar daily, so what's the problem?"

"Al, you forgot, didn't you?" Ed accused, before lifting up his right arm and pointing at it, before Alphonse finally remembered whatever it was that his brother was so distressed about. "And I'm pretty sure the Physical Education attires are short sleeved."

Alphonse laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry brother, I guess I forgot?"

Es thumped his head on a conviently placed wall. What was his little brother doing to make himself forget important things?

"... Maybe I should try feigning sickness?" Ed tapped his chin thoughtfully after recovering, before Al shot down his idea with precision, that Ed wondered how Alphonse got so good at shooting down his ideas.

"Brother, they'll just make you head to the nurse's office."

Ed shuddered. "That's unfortunately true..."

Al snapped his fingers, beaming broadly. "I got it!" Turning back to his locker, he quickly dug through it.

"Uh, Al?" Ed asked nervously as he narrowly dodged one painful looking textbook just as Al yelled out in triumph, holding out a pair of dark colored arm warmers.

Ed's eye twitched. "Al... Weren't those for girls? And why do you have them?"

"Brother, don't be silly. These are the ones for males. And besides, weren't you complaining about people finding out about what's on your arm?"

"Al, you're evil."

LINE BREAK

"Hiya, Edo!" Ed had just entered the locker room five seconds before hand, and hadn't the time to react before he was unceremoniously squished into a hug.

"What the-?! Get off! And who the heck are you?" Ed protested, shoving the offender who tumbled backwards to the floor.

"How mean!" The person, who was obviously of Xingese or Chinese origin pouted, getting up and dusting himself off, before saying. "I can't believe you forgot me!"

Ed scrutinized the person, before blinking in surprise. Wait a second... So that's why the squinty eyed guy looked familiar! Ed's eye twitched in annoyance.

"Ling?!"

Edward had met Ling during his time in Xing a year ago, after finding him collapsed by the roadside. Ok, maybe that was Al, but who cares? Of course, being the kind soul Al was treated the idiot with some food -with Ed's money unfortunately-, only for the squinty eyed idiot to rack up a damn bill of twenty thousand cenz in Amestrian currency! And he still hadn't paid him back! Ed wanted his money back!

At that thought, Ed clenched his fists, nearly fuming at the memory. "Squinty eyes... You still owe me twenty thousand cenz!" Ed growled out through gnashing teeth, Ling completely unaffected by the dangerous aura that was radiating off Edward, as he simply grinned, inching out of the locker room. "C'mon, aren't we friends? Friends treat each other to things!"

"When since were we friends, you idiot?! You just mooched off me!" Ed growled, fist raised, following after Ling onto the field with the other males.

Before any more of the conversation could continue -or possible violence could start- , a loud, booming voice filled the area.

"GREETINGS, STUDENTS! IT IS I, COACH ARMSTRONG WHO SHALL BE TEACHING YOU THE ART OF EXERCISING THAT HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THROUGH THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS! "

At this, a significant number of the males present let out rather girly shrieks, that they would later vehemently deny. Luckily for them, the girls were at a different area of the field which was out of hearing range, because both groups would be doing different activities for the semester.

Their coach was to put it very simply, extremely muscular, mostly bald with a single lock of blond hair falling from the center of his head, with a funny mustache that seemed to curl upwards.

"Should I be worried?" Ed wondered out loud, not expecting to receive a response from Ling. "You should!" Ling grinned, still unaffected by whatever he should have been worried about.

"Are you crazy?!" One student hissed from Ed's side. "Coach Armstrong is well known around the school for his... Odd tendencies!"

Ed blinked, turning to stare, confused, at the student, whom Ed recognized as one of his friends from back in Resembool. Pitt, he recalled, was his name. He should have been worried at being recognized, but Ed hadn't seen him since he was what, six? Seven? He highly doubted Pitt would have remembered him.

"Odd tendencies?" Ed repeated, his eyebrow raised. "What do you mean by-?"

"NOW, STUDENTS! RUN TEN LAPS AROUND OUR SCHOOL'S MAGNIFICENT TRACK FIELD! I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT YOU'LL WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED BY FOLLOWING THIS MARVELLOUS ROUTINE EVERYDAY!"

All of a sudden, the coach's shirt had vanished to who knows where -maybe disintegrated-, and Armstrong himself was busy flexing, showing off his bulging muscles.

Were those pink sparkles?!

"...that?" Ed finished weakly, before bolting off to the track field, intent on getting as far away as possible from Armstrong, with the rest of the class running after as though their life depended on it.

Was death by sparkles possible?

 _"I'm definately cursed..."_ Was the thought that repeated on repetitive all the while Ed ran the ten rounds, which equaled to about five kilometers. Luckily for Ed, his teacher had pretty much made him and Al run ten kilometers a day, all the while chucking rocks at them. Not the most pleasant memory, but it did help improve their stamina, which meant they could run at least slightly more than ten kilometers without breaking a sweat, which was useful here.

By the end of the end of the class -half of which Ed spent drawing perfect circles into the ground since he finished running six rounds ahead of the class-, more than half the class was on the floor in a sweaty mass, crying out bloody murder, with the sole exception of Ed and Ling. Honestly, Ed wasn't too surprised. Ling was like some sort of ninja wearing bright colors instead of the traditional black. Kind of reminds Ed of a television show he once saw for five minutes when he was playing around with the channels on the hotel room's television when he had nothing better to do. Something to do with a ramen loving ninja wearing orange.

And so, there concluded the first lesson of Physical Education, which Ed left hoping the next lesson was not going to be anytime soon, mainly because Armstrong was too busy flexing the whole time, exposing his muscled chest in it's full glory.

Gah, Ed's eyes and brain were permanently scarred now. And he really did not want to be scarred anymore than he needed to, thank you very much.

Oh well, on the bright side, no one noticed anything strange about Ed, which meant his secret was safe for a while longer.

As Ed changed back into his normal daily wear, once he made sure no one was looking, he pulled off the arm warmers. A circle with complicated markings that had been seared into his forearm stared back up at him, before he quickly pulled back on his red jacket, hiding the markings.

He had been so stupid, messing around in things he shouldn't have. He shouldn't have tried playing around with Hohenheim's research.

Now everytime he shut his eyes, he could see that- that _thing_ , grinning at him, before it cursed him to this fate of running and hiding continuously. Ed never did understand, why he could have activated his Father's research in the first place, when no one else could.

 _"Hey, Al! Look what I found! Cool, huh?"_

LINE BREAK

"C'mon, Ed, Al!" Winry laughed, pulling the two brothers -against their will- along to the horror called shopping. The worst part? Winry expected them to pay for her expenses. Talk about being a mooch.

"Wow!" Winry gushed, her eyes sparkling as she spotted a tool shop. "They've got a new set of tools! Oh, and those chrome bearings are to die for!"

As Winry went on and on about the different tools and screws -possibly because she had one missing-, Ed groaned, thinking about how much lighter his wallet was going to be when they got back home sometime next week.

And here he thought Winry was different from other girls. Nope, she was exactly the same, with only her choice in products differing.

Al patted his brother's shoulder sympathetically.

Four hours and twenty different stores, one extremely light wallet and a happy Winry later, the trio were seated at a cafe, enjoying a hot chocolate -once again using Ed's money. Damn, they were heartless- as they caught up, Winry listening to Al retelling an incident where both of them were banned from a village for life thanks to Ed's crazy antics.

"I already said I was sorry!" Ed complained. "It wasn't my fault that guy refused to listen!"

"You keep thinking that, brother."

"That had better not be sarcasm I hear."

"Whatever you say, brother."

Pretty soon after, they left the cafe and headed back home. It was funny finding out they lived next to each other, though.

As soon as Ed had shut the front door, he quickly peeled off his jacket, throwing it on the couch because really, it was summer, and was hot out there! Not to mention the fact his arm was bothering him much more than usual.

"Is your arm hurting again, brother?" Al looked over Ed in concern, who waved him off.

"Nah, it's just the heat." Ed reassured him, despite the stinging sensation that was beginning to crawl over his forearm, right where the darkened markings were. It had always been like that, even after four years since that day.

Ed had to wonder though. If he had never succeeded in activating that circle, where would his life had gone?

 _"Ok, Al. Stand back, I'm gonna try this out. One of dad's crazy research projects which probably doesn't work!"_

 **[A/N Ok, this chapter ending was a little rushed since I had no idea how to end off. But eh, I hope the rest was good enough for a long wait. Sorry about that though. But exam results came back, and needless to say, half of them were horrendous, with the exception of English and science. My Chinese sucks, my math sucks, my literature sucks and etc...**

 **Someone tell me how to study for them, else I'm going to do badly for my streaming year. And this year is really important for my future! Gah, damn it, Singapore education system. Damn it Secondary two year... And I'm still thirteen! Too much stress in my life in just thirteen short years!**

 **Well, if I do update again, at least you'll know my mom didn't kill me for my results...**

 **~ Gwntan12]**


	5. A Fight

Mustang couldn't put his finger on it. There was something familiar about the Heiderich brothers. He only just realized it after a month, but there was something about those two boys that he was missing.

What better way to investigate, than to call up an expert?

 _"Yo, Roy!"_

...No matter how annoying said expert was.

 _"It's rare for you to call me up! What's up? You need something? Or perhaps..."_ Hughes gasped from the other side of the phone. _"You want to hear about my little angel Elicia? She's so adorable! She just learnt how to ride a tricycle without my help! She's prodigy, I tell you!"_

"Hughes," Mustang sighed, rubbing his temples as he felt the incoming headache. Hughes was supposed to be a police officer. Why did he always insist on acting that way, as well as racking up enormous phone bills?!. "I didn't call you for daughter stories. I need your help with something that has been bugging me- Are you even listening?!"

The answer to that was, quite frankly, a 'no', since Hughes was still busy gushing over how sweet his daughter was.

"Hughes!"

 _"Hmm?"_

"I need you to investigate the name 'Heiderich' for me."

 _"I can't believe it! You're trying to investigate a girl friend!"*_

"What-?! No! I'm investigating two of my students, who remind me of the Elrics!"

There was a pause, before Hughes's spoke again, his tone clearly sadder than it was a couple of seconds prior. _"Roy... Those boys are gone. They may as well be dead. I know you cared about them, but no one has been able to find them for four years."_

Mustang sighed, running his fingers through his hair. Of course he knew that. He had been asking Hughes's for news about that case at least once a week, until the case went cold. But even then, he still occasionally called Hughes up about it, since his friend was secretly working on it.

"I know, Hughes. But there's something off about the Heiderich brothers that I need to know, and maybe it could be a lead to the Elrics."

The moments ticked by in silence, before Hughes gave his answer. _"All right, Roy. I'll see what I can find."_

Mustang smirked ever so slightly. "Thank you, Hughes."

 _"Now that that's out of the way..."_ He could almost hear the grin on Hughes's face. _"My daughter just brought home a little kitten! She's such an angel! A real little goddess! But of course, I already knew that, ha ha ha ha ha!"_

As Hughes rambled on and on about his daughter, Mustang could only groan. Where was his Asprin when he needed it?

0o0

Edward's eye twitched violently as he stared down the test. Mustang had better be joking.

 _1\. Sit there for more than five minutes before getting up and turning your paper in._

 _2\. Don't tell Klaus or Julia about this. I mean it._

And here he thought Mustang was actually doing his job for once. Edward sighed deeply as he lowered his pen. He had better lower his expectation of Mustang, since that slacker was obviously wasting precious time pranking two of his students for slacking and being all lovey-dovey at the back of the classroom. They may have been trying to be discreet ( Notice the 'trying') but really, it was just plain obvious. Who wouldn't notice the public displays of affection that practically rang out through the class as the two love birds whispered sweet nothings into each other's ears? Edward wasn't even next to them, and yet they were loud enough for him to want to gag.

"Can't believe I have that idiot of a teacher..." Edward mumbled under his breath as soon as class ended, standing by his locker to collect a few of his books which he had borrowed from the library.

Checking his pocket watch, he cursed. He only had five minutes before his next class, which meant five minutes to run up to the library, return his books, and run back down before the bell rings. Crap, he shouldn't have spent so much time think up of creative insults to describe Mustang's laziness. Honestly, that man made the students grade other classes' work!

Staring at the large stack of books in hand, he groaned, before eyeing the staircase. His locker was on the first floor of the building, and the library was at the top floor, basically the sixth floor.

Well, he had better start running, since he now only had four minutes left to return his books. And no, he couldn't return them after school since Winry had wanted to drag him and Alphonse out for an outing with her friends the minute school was over.

And those books were due today.

Edward really couldn't believe how he could have forgotten to return the books during lunch.

"Crap crap crap..." He mumbled under his breath as he dashed up the stairs as fast as he could -Fast enough not to drop his books-, all the while ducking through the crowds of students -Not that it was too hard, considering his size-.

Suddenly, just as Edward side stepped a couple of giggling, red faced girls -why, just why?-, Edward slammed into someone else, falling backwards as he dropped his books.

"Ow..." Edward groaned, rubbing his hurt tailbone, before a voice scoffed, catching his attention.

"Oi! Watch where you're going, pipsqueak!" That weird, palm tree hairstyle guy from his history class sneered.

Almost immediately, Edward leapt to his feet, books forgotten, bristling at the taboo word he so despised. Unfortunately, Edward was at least twenty centimeters shorter, much to his chagrin, which pretty much proved palm tree's insult -Not short! Not short!-. "Who the hell are you calling a micro sized pipsqueak?!"

As if to add insult to injury, the other leaned down down to reach Edward's eye level -damn it, he was not short!- and smirked. "Why, you of course. What, are you _short_ of hearing?" Ten minutes later, Edward and the other male were sitting in the Principal's office, nursing split lip and a black eye respectively.

0o0

Principal Bradley was a middle aged man, but despite that, he looked like he could cut you to shreds if he so desired without breaking a sweat. The eyepatch didn't help so much either.

From what Edward had heard, he wore the eyepatch after losing his eye in one of those scuffles in the North, before resigning from the military and coming to work as a principal to a school. But really, why the eyepatch? Was he trying to cosplay as a pirate or something? And Edward was fairly certain that Halloween wasn't for a few months.

"Back again, are we, young Mr Nevy?" Principal Bradley sighed, as he replaced his teacup on it's holder. "This is the fifth time this month that you've seen me for fights."

Palm tree -No, Edward wasn't about to change the name calling- simply mumbled something under his breath, a scowl etched onto his face.

"As I've said multiple times, fighting is not tolerated in my school." The principal sat up straight, before declaring his verdict. "Mr Nevy, detention for two weeks. You may go now."

Palm tree's scowl grew deeper, if that was even possible, before storming out of the office.

"And you, Mr Heiderich," Edward gulped nervously, sweat rolling down his forehead. However, what came next was completely unexpected. The man started _laughing_. Edward stared. Did the man just lose his marbles suddenly? "No need to be so nervous, son!" Bradley laughed, picking up his cup of tea once again. "Mr Nevy is a troublemaker, and I doubt a promising young lad like you is responsible for this incident. Am I right."

"Y- yes, sir." _Not true, but I'm not going to say anything._

"Well, take care of yourself, Mr Heiderich. We wouldn't like to see you again in my office for a while now, am I right?"

"Yes sir." Well, Edward was sure he starting to sound like a broken record. But all in all, he was simply surprised that he got off without so much as a dention, or even a lecture.

"I've taken up enough of your time. You may go now."

"Thank you, sir."

The moment he stepped out of the room, door closing behind him, he let out a huge sigh of relief, because damn, that was scary!

"Brother!" Alphonse ran to his elder brother, worry etched onto his face. "I heard you got into a fight!"

"No worries, Al." Edward shrugged. "It's just a scratch."

"Brother, that's not a scratch. That's a split lip."

"Smartass." Edward snorted, receiving an offended, "Hey!" From Alphonse.

0o0

When school ended, Winry dragged Edward and Alphonse to meet her friends.

"This is Rose," She pointed to a a girl with black hair that had the bangs dyed pink. "And this is Paninya." This girl had dark brown hair tied into a short ponytail, and she had darker skin. "Rose, Paninya, these are my childhood friends, Edward and Alphonse. They're siblings."

"Hey. Nice to meet you." Edward greeted.

"It's nice to meet you too!" Alphonse said, smiling.

"Likewise." Paninya said smiling while Rose replied with a, "It's nice too!"

"So, who's the older sibling?" Rose asked curiously.

"Me, I'm older. Al's younger." Edward replied, feeling twinge of annoyance. If she was implying what he thought she was...

"Really? But Alphonse is so much taller than you!" Paninya cut in, looking shocked.

"WHO THE HELL ARE CALLING A MIDGET?!"

0o0

After that little episode which ended with a wrench being bashed over Edward's head, it was decided that they would go to the movies.

Edward blanched when he heard they would be watching a horror movie.

The horror genre just wasn't his area of interest. Plus, the jump scares made Alphonse cry out in fear and cling to him, and while the gore was cheesy, it was still really nauseating.

Entrails hanging from the ceiling used to choke someone to death was... no. Just... no.

Exiting the cinema with Alphonse looking a little green to the gills, Edward keeping his deadpan expression, and the females discussing the movie plot, Edward immediately made the decision not to ever follow his childhood friend and her other friends to a movie.

Besides, he didn't need horror.

He already had too much of it in his life.

0o0

It smiled, sitting at it's 'throne'. His pieces were all falling into place, and by the time the Elrics realised what exactly was going on, it would be far too late.

It wondered if the eldest child of it's old acquaintance had noticed anything yet. That little circle of Hohenheim's had done more than just gift him with the power of Alchemy. No, it had done far more than that. And it could use that to it's advantage, if properly handled.

Van Hohenheim wouldn't be able to stop him now. Not him, or even the ones the man had left his life's work to.

He moved another piece on the board.

Check.

 **[A/N Let me just say that I really apologise for taking such a long time to update. Let's just say I suffered from a writer's block, lost interest in this book and went to fool around in the Hetalia fandom for a bit, before returning to my FMA books.**

 **I checked the reviews on this book, and then felt a little guilty about my lack of updates. I'm a horrible person. So I've decided to post a chapter to tide you guys over until I have successfully gotten rid of all my writer's blocks. Also, like I said on my Hetalia and FMA crossover, I'm now in Secondary 3 and I have less time to write. Damn you, school. Why you do this to me?!**

 **Also, I have to work on that Teen Titans and FMA crossover with my good friend Estherrain.**

 **By the way, did anyone catch that mini reference I made? You'd have to be a really hardcore fan if that anime to notice it! (Since that's actually the stuff the fandom made up. My hint is that it's an anime I recently got into. Hehe...)**

 **My mom didn't kill me, but she nearly did. Haha... Hopefully that won't happen again this year.**

 **Well, that's all for today!**

 **See you guys next time!**

 **~ Gwntan12]**

 ***I had nothing better to do, so shush.**


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